Toe and Heel Drag 101

Chanel Snowboard

The Culprit

A major issue many riders will face when hitting the slopes is toe or heel drag. The problem arises when the size of your boot from toe to heel is larger than the width of your board at the waist. What ends up happening here is you have the front part of your boot hanging over the toe edge of the board and/or the back of the boot hanging over the heel edge of your board.

This is a snowboarder’s nightmare since you experience a sort of “draginess” feeling when you use either edge of your board to carve or stop. Instead of pulling nice and tight S-shaped turns down the slope, it takes a little more effort to put your board through the turn since the overhang from your toes or heel is preventing the board’s edges from making proper contact with the snow or ice. Stopping also becomes more difficult since you need to press harder with your toes or heel to make the most of the decreased board edge-snow contact.

One of my first boards was an ’05 Burton Raven 152. A short, stiff board with deep sidecuts that gave it a very narrow waist. I wear a size 9.5 boot, so right off the bat there was some serious toe AND heel overhang. I would never really come to know how much toe and heel drag limited by snowboarding experience until I purchased my first proper board that was a 156 and had a much wider waist. I did my research, seated the bindings properly onto the board, and strapped in with my booths, there was zero overhang. It makes such a huge difference on the snow. Turning became much smoother and seemingly effortless. Stopping on either edge was a breeze. For the first time, I was letting the board do most of the work than having to dig the edge into the snow with every muscle fiber in my body. The best part about having no drag was that I wiped out much less. With my old board, sometimes either edge wouldn’t catch the snow properly at higher speeds and I would end up having to bail or being tossed across the slope like a rag doll.

The Solution

Make a purchase decision on a new board while taking the size of your feet into consideration. A lot of companies are now offering their same boards in a “wide” version for people with larger feet. If you’re a first time buyer, make sure the person helping you out is aware of all these issues, so they can fit you with the best boots/bindings/board setup.

My recommendation would be to choose a board then pick your boots/bindings combination. Strap the boots into the bindings and place them on top of the board where they would sit if they were mounted. A lot of bindings will have a few options that lets you move them around a bit when mounting. Play with this a little and see if there is any way to mount the bindings without having the toes or heel from the boot hanging over the edges of the board. Now it’s important to keep in mind that it’s normal for the front part of your boots to hang slightly over the edge but no more than 0.5 to 1 inches. What you really want to avoid is having any exposed grip from your boot hanging over the edge. This all applies to your heel edge as well. If the overhang is just too much no matter how you position the bindings, then it might be time to consider a wider board or a wide version of that same one.

Unless the sizing of your board with respect to your boots/bindings is all wrong, then you really shouldn’t have any drag. Most people experience drag from not positioning their bindings properly. The most common thing you see is people pushing their bindings all the way forward and creating a lot of toe overhang. Educate yourself on your equipment and see what options you have when it comes to mounting. Seat the bindings properly on the board with the boots strapped in to visualize how to minimize or completely eliminate overhang.

Surf’s up bizatches!

Burton Cartel 2010 Bindings Review

Burton Cartel 2010

An independent user review by Hoon, a rider, surfer, biker, and all-round family man: hoonhwang.blogspot.com

Brand: Burton / Product Name: Cartel / Model Year: 2010
Reviewer: Hoon

What can you say about the binding that can be found on more pros, joes and ho’s than any other binding over the course of the last five years? Yup, that’s no typo. Count ‘em. Five years at the top of its game. I bet you can’t think of another snowboard product that can claim that title. Here’s a brief sample of some of the riders who are riding or have ridden Cartels: Travis Rice, Aaron Bittner and Mark Landvik to name a few. Oh, and did you notice those riders listed aren’t Burton-sponsored?

The truly phenomenal success of the Burton Cartel derives from its “everything you need, nothing you don’t” philosophy. It was originally built as the park and freestyle domination machine, utilizing Burton’s solid, time-tested chassis and a highback that just won’t quit. No wedgies, cinches, FXT’s, cable-activated BOA’s or other useless crap can be found on this binding. Aside from the steezie and slick color schemes year after year, the Cartel offers solid features such as smooth glide ratchets and ultra capstraps. Plus it has consistently had one of the tallest highbacks in the game. Up front, it’ll bite you in the calf until you get a few days under your belt, but like that dominatrix down the street, you’ll be beggin’ for more. Also for all you non-EST converts, the Cartel comes in both an EST and disc version. Perfect for those missions that find you on a 3D or 4×2 snowboard.

For 2010, the Cartel has received a bit of a facelift. Burton has backed off the height of the highback (ever so slightly) and also included full baseplate padding (about damn time!). You’ll note that it comes in lift-line arresting bold colors like purple and orange, with only a few subtle accents. In a world where bindings seem to have more flair than your local TGIF, it’s refreshing to let the colorway to the heavy lifting.

As you probably can gather from this post, I’m a Cartel junkie. You’re probably asking yourself: Why the undying devotion to these bindings? There’s plenty of awesome bindings out there. So true, but I haven’t ridden any other binding where after five years, the baseplates are just starting to show a bit of wear and tear. Granted I’m frankenbinder’d the shit out of these guys over the years, but those baseplates are still the original Polarized White. Until I can find a binding that can perform like the Cartel and stand up to that abuse, the Burton Cartel will always be my go-to binding in a pinch.

Original catalog copy from 04/05
Rule the freestyle underworld.The all-new Cartel™ is today’s standard in freestyle capability. For an insane snow feel, we removed some of the material from the baseplate but added Pressure Distribution Feet for improved weight displacement. This purifies the interface between board and body and reduces damage to your precious ride. The redesigned Team Skyback® is 13% lighter than last year and maintains the same amazing strength, response and stompability of the tallest hi-back in our line